Deadly Donations Conclusion

My name is Henry James and I’m a writer for Dark Sides of the Truth magazine.

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Conclusion

I’m sitting in the corner of a penthouse balcony discovering a new meaning to being wet behind the ears, when the French doors opened. Jumping up, I pulled the pistol from my jeans.

“You can come in now Henry. They’re gone.”

When I stepped in and closed the doors behind me, Sunny put her hands against her mouth trying to suppress bouts of laughter.

“James, you’re dripping all over the carpet. There’s some robes in the bathroom. Hang your clothes up to dry, towel off then we’ll talk.”

After stripping down to the necessities I put on the largest of the two robes, tied up and stepped out. Sunny was again sitting on the couch and I saw her grin as I walked up and tried the best I could to sit down without man-spreading.

As I tried to get comfortable I noticed she was still grinning at me.

“What?”

“I do believe those are the whitest chicken legs I’ve ever seen in my life. You probably don’t own a set of shorts do you?”

“You want to forget about my legs for a minute and tell me what’s going on?”

“Okay Grumpy. This is how it’s going to work. I just made a deal with Chung. After looking at his operation I agreed to the price, but with one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“I want to be there and take immediate delivery of the organ.”

“You’re going to be there at the time of harvest?”

“Correct.”

“I thought the whole point of all your cloak and dagger bullshit is to prevent an illegally obtained organ.”

“It is.”

“Sunny, come on. Give me a break here.”

“You remember Manny Hermanos?”

“Yeah the FBI dude I talked to when Jericho tried to rob my bank?”

“One and the same. Well over dinner one night…”

“Whoa, back up. You and Manny are seeing each other? When was somebody gonna tell me this?”

“James, how I live my personal life does not require you to know about it or give your approval.”

“Fine, but for the record I don’t think he’s a good fit for you.”

“Oh thanks ever so much daddy dearest. I’ll take that into consideration when we walk down the aisle next week.”

I didn’t think she was serious, but with her I never know for sure. I thought about asking where she was registered or whether I needed to rent a tux then let it go.

“So let me guess. You and Manny are in cahoots on this and you’re gonna call in the cavalry when the money passes hands. That about cover it?”

“Pretty much. I’ve got a burn phone with Manny’s phone number keyed in on speed dial, and he’s got three tactical teams on standby waiting for me to make the call.”

“Uh, Sunny? Does Manny know where the warehouse is?”

For several seconds she stared at me. Then a lax expression formed on her face as if she was a robot and her internal power source had just died.

“Oh shit.”

“They never gave you the address and you were in the car playing guess my real identity with the good doctor right?”

“OH SHIT HENRY!”

“So, Manny and his people will need to put surveillance on these dudes when they come to pick you up again. That’s a little risky.”

“Why?”

“If they get spotted you’re pretty much screwed. Even if they don’t get made it doesn’t give Manny’s teams much time to get in position. Recipe for disaster.”

“Oh dear God.”

“Why take a chance when you already have what you need?”

“What do you mean?”

“This morning when Chung picked you up I tailed you guys. I know exactly where they took you. I didn’t get close enough to pick out an address, but I can get Manny and his teams there.”

She smiled and said, “not bad for a crotchety old fart.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Okay, it’s late. We both need to get some sleep. Tomorrow I need to get to the bank and withdraw the cash.

“How much by the way?”

“Three quarters of a million.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, I wanted to make sure I set the hook. Can you show Manny the location tomorrow so he can get his teams in place?”

I grabbed the edge of my terrycloth robe and tried to exit the chair with as much modesty as possible.

“Sure, let me get dressed and get out of here.”

After finding a motel better suited to my expense report I tucked it in for the night.

The next morning I met Manny at the Gaymon then drove to the same intersection I’d stopped at the other day. We sat in my car as he jotted down some notes and drew sketches.

I got the feeling Manny was a little new to this incursion team thing. He seemed unsure of himself, but hey, he was the dude in charge so I let him have his say.

Then Manny brushed off a suggestion I made about putting a detail on the opposite end of the street in case Chung or others slipped the noose.

Not cool.

Four AM Friday morning I left my motel room armed with a stout cup of coffee and a plan. If Manny wasn’t going to cover the opposite end of the street I was.

After getting in place I scanned the streets and sipped my coffee. Eventually I had to take a bio break. I was zipping up my jeans when my phone started ringing.

“This is James.”

“Mr. James this is Damen Alexander. I just spoke to Sunny, but I wanted to let you know I made the call.”

“Okay thanks Damen.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine. It’s the criminals you should be worried about.”

Damen chuckled, wished us luck then disconnected. Two hours later I saw the black Mercedes pull into the warehouse parking lot. Things began to happen quickly after that. When I saw Manny’s teams converge on the warehouse I knew it would be over soon.

The last thing I expected was to be right about something.

Darting onto the main road from a side street next to the targeted warehouse a limo fishtailed then straightened. It began to pick up speed heading in my direction. I hesitated for a second, then flipped up my car’s console, grabbed my pistol and the five loaded mags and rolled out of the car.

The limo was closing the distance fast.

I aimed at the grill and emptied the magazine. Steam began to drift out beneath the hood, but the limo continued to race toward me.

I released the empty mag, slid another in, armed and fired another fifteen rounds into the car.

The hood buckled into a tent, but the car continued to roll.

I rearmed and popped off another full mag into the engine. This time the hood flipped up and I saw pieces of ripped hoses and shattered metal spewing out of the engine bay.

After ejecting the empty mag, I slid a fresh one in and went for the front tires. Six rounds took out the left and I got lucky on the right after four shots.

The limo nosed into a curb, bounced over it then T boned the brick wall of a building opposite the warehouse complex. Chung got out of the driver’s side clutching a briefcase to his chest and started running .

I knew he wouldn’t get far.

All the commotion of me popping caps had drawn the attention of one of Manny’s teams. They were running in my direction and Chung was running away from me.

Toward them.

I picked up my spent mags, stowed them and my pistol in the console then sat on the hood of my car and waited.

I was sure Manny was going to have a lot of questions for me.

A week later, after a heated debate between Rick, Sunny and I where Sunny pointed out I wouldn’t have been involved in her story had Rick not called me in to find her happy ass, her story was chosen as the feature for Dark Sides.

Again.

I didn’t even get honorable mention.

Again.

And I have to buy her lunch because of a standing bet between she and I.

Again.

It’s all good though folks. That same week I discovered an envelope with my name on it next to my docking station. Inside was a pair of court side tickets to the next Duke’s game.

Compliments of one Dante Alexander.

I guess it pays to be in good with the owners of Dark Sides right?

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